Sam's First Visit to the Emergency Room

It is official - Sam has finally been to the Emergency Room. Sam fell off the monkey bars in the big kid's playground at school yesterday - his 4th day of 1st grade.

Sam has a buckle fracture of the left wrist. He took today off from school to adjust and tomorrow we are going to the orthopedic specialist for casting.

If you look closely at the x-rays, you will see a line and bump in the right arm bone about a screen centimeter below the wrist joint.

Sam was pretty oblivious to the pain - if any. In the hospital he flirted with the nurse and x-ray technician. Last night it throbbed a little. Mostly he's fine, but for the inconvenience of a cast (4 weeks) and the lost monkey bar time.

Before & After...6 Months Later

Chris and Sam just got home from Maine. For the week they were away, we had Morgan and Bitsy at our house. Needless to say, with four dogs in the house it's been busy. Chica always comes away from these "visits" disgustingly dirty. It's been six months since Chica's last grooming, so she was due. We decided it would be fun to do another before and after. In these photos, it's much more believable that it's the same dog, just shaved.

Enjoying the Garden

I've worked very hard this year to really establish plants in the front garden. I love to sit with John and enjoy coffee on the weekends and the occasional late afternoon beer. We especially have enjoyed watching the hummingbirds. Currently, we have three that are regular visitors to the garden. One is convinced it is all his, and hides in a nearby tree guarding his territory.

In the first picture, you can see (from left to right) rosemary & thyme, several different variations of lavendar, my new garden duck (thanks Mom!), the strawberry planter / bird bath John gave me, holly in the back and the climbing rose bush in the back. This photo is taken from the front door looking out toward the street; the garden is walled in.

In the second photo, you can see a close-up of the garden's front corner. It's filled with large black lava rocks, which are found throughout New Mexico, and surrounded by stonecrop, desert roses, and cactuses.

The metal bugs had been Jane's and continue to live in the garden. In the back you can see Caladiums just beginning to fill in.

Finally, in the third picture, I'm standing back by the bird bath, looking back towards the front door. You can see my sunflowers in their pots, our little garden bench, and the wind chimes. At night during the thunderstorms, we sit out on this bench, mostly sheltered from the rain, and watch the storms.

I look forward to this filling in more and more. People are always surprised by the garden when they come to the house. I'm pretty sure the pizza boy would like to live there. It has a very relaxing quality to it. We've enjoyed herbs from the garden, as well as many weekends drinking coffee and watching birds.

Cookie A Day - My business

Since leaving work in the "real world" my business has been growing in leaps and bounds. I've got several new clients and projects that I'm really excited about.

Currently I'm working with:

Anna Faunce - Mainly Rugs
We are reworking her site, moving it from a templated/generated, hard to market system to a whole new look with easier ordering operations. If you are looking for area rugs, this is a great place to start. Site is expected to go live mid-August.

Shelly Gaddis - Elegant Mommy
This is a brand new project. Shelly is working to start an online maternity resale company. She did a ton of research before coming to me, and I'm very proud to say she chose me to develop her site. The code is being developed now for the backend store operations, but the general look and feel are in place.

Jim Fortune - Art-Carnage.com
This is a fun site where artists can submit digital images of their work and it gets "commodified" for sale. The digitiallized art is then available for purchase on products ranging from notecards and blank journals to BBQ aprons and dog t-shirts, and the cleverly named S.A.S.S. (Starving Artist Support System) shop becomes another source of income for the artist. All are welcome to participate!

Judith James - Your Destiny Life Coach
We moved her existing site to new hosting and are working to improve it's traffic.

Judith James - Women's Empowerment Resources
This site is a directory of women owned businesses that specifically work to provide services to women and help them to empower their own lives. It is currently in the launching stages, but we expect the directory to begin filling up quickly. It is open to worldwide participation, and we have translation links on every page. All are invited to participate!

I also have so many other customers I continue to work with, who have been wonderfully loyal and supportive. Thank you R&W Engraving, Maternity Fair / Baby Furniture Fair, Sussex Foot & Ankle, Energy Pulse, Oganov.com, The Friendly Fish, Leiter Enterprises, Caroline's Pet Connections, and so many others for your continued business!

I've recently updated the Cookie A Day site with a new look and complete list of clients/sites I'm actively working with. Feel free to drop by and take a look.